Beyond the Continuation of a Dream
by ExistentialBeliever
Summary: Seven years had passed since the final day of the Fifth Holy Grail War. Seven years since Emiya Shirou began walking the path of a Heroic Spirit. Seven peaceful years lapsed, giving ways to the shadow of a new war. With the summoning of the seven Heroic Spirits and the seven Evil Spirits, Fuyuki would once again be set aflame. Shirou x Saber. Post-anime ending.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Fate/Stay Night franchise or any element of the story created by Type/Moon.

This story is set during and after the ending of the Fate/Stay Night anime.

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**Prologue: Beyond the Continuation of the Dream**

Avalon, Conclusion of the Fifth Holy Grail War

Emiya Shirou's eyelids fluttered in a foreign land.

An endless expanse of hills, where fragments of prana danced and swirled like glowing petals.

_Avalon…_

The name came naturally to Shirou. His artisan hands had once recreated this phantasm, a magnum opus that he could never again replicate.

His last memory had been that of Saber with Excalibur shining a midday sun. Its radiance had swallowed everything: the crackling splinters, the oppressive heat, the burning Ryudo Temple, and even the Grail that overflowed with corruption.

"Shirou…"

Her voice beckoned him to journey across the landscape. Soft young grass cushioned his feet, each steps send him soaring like the wind.

"Shirou…"

Saber stood at the peak of a grassy hill, underneath the branches of a mighty oak tree. She blossomed into a smile upon the sight of him, radiant and glowing like she had never been in life.

A miracle allowed them to meet for the final time, a brief reunion, but her rightful was place was here and his was back in the living world.

"…With this, I believe that everything has ended. Both the war and my oath to you…"

"Yeah, the grail…..The war…everything." Shirou replied. His heart swelled with a sense of accomplishment. "You've done well, Saber. I couldn't have made this far without you."

"Call me by name, Shirou. Here, I've already shed my burden of being a Saber," she corrected. "...So allow me to speak not as your sword nor as a king, but as a woman."

The golden sunlight provided a stunning backdrop to the field of their parting, just like the final scene of a play before the curtain fall.

"I wish to thank you. While seated on the throne, I'd never thought that I would learn the joy of living an ordinary life, of going on a trip…and of falling in love." She paused and closed her eyes to relive those fond memories. "Shirou, what are your feelings? I wish to hear it in your own words."

"…I love you." He had said these words once before and did so again without any hesitation. "From now until we meet again, I'll say it as many times as you like."

"Shirou…"

Altria's wide-eyed surprise at his optimism soon turned into acceptance, not out of sympathy or kindness, but out of wish to hold to that very same hope. No matter how farfetched, some part of her truly wanted to believe that one day he would set foot in the Avalon as one of its rightful denizen.

"Wait for me. I'll see you again. I'll definitely come for you, so…" Shirou concluded, firmly, without a shred of doubt

"You have no need to worry. No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you here," Saber responded in kind.

They both realized that Emiya Shirou would do everything within his power not to let their story end with a tragic parting.

Shirou took Saber's outstretched hands and pulled her into an embrace. She stiffened at the foreign sensation before surrendering to it. Only a few days ago neither would think it was possible that his presence could transform the King of Knights into a love-struck maiden.

Her dainty form belied a great strength, but the absence of her usual armor left her soft and vulnerable to his touch. The girl in his arms was no longer the King Arthur of Britain. All that remained of the king was Altria, an ordinary girl in love.

"Shirou, I…" She looked up with moistened eyes and felt his lips pressed against hers, softly gently, melting into her.

He didn't let her finish. He had no need to. There was no need for words with the emotions that resonated between them. The gesture alone conveyed all that they needed to tell one another; the bitterness of separation and sweetness of hopeful reunion.

Their few seconds stretched to an eternity.

Then the magic was over.

Shirou realized the growing weight on his consciousness. The drowsiness was overwhelming. His eyelids grew heavy like two falling curtains.

That simple kiss altered his fate. Shirou realized that the bearing of his life had taken an abrupt turn. It might be no more than a distant dream for an ordinary magus to crave for the rights to enter into the dwelling of heroes, but he would devote the rest of his life to see it through. The serene landscape of Avalon was exactly where he had hope to spend an eternity of his afterlife.

Forever with Saber by his side…

"I'll see you again, Altria..."

"…No matter what it takes?" Saber whispered, snuggling closer for the final embrace.

"No matter what it takes." He answered with the last of his breath.

For her sake and hers alone, Emiya Shirou made a wish to become a Heroic Spirit.

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**A/N**:

I wrote this story in part to address of the element which I feel is lacking in Fate/Stay Night. This story will depict a the culmination of Shirou's ideal of heroism and re-explore the relationship dynamics between Shirou and Saber in greater details.

Once thing I'll say in advance is that the mechanism of the Holy Grail in this story might diverge from the canon material. I have done my best to learn the canon and incorporate the changes that will happen in this story into that framework, but, since many of the subsequent events in this story will go beyond the canon, much of it will consequently be my own interpretation and extrapolation of the information I have. Please feel free to call me on it, if you feel that I have made any errors on this part.

Lastly, thanks for taking your time to read this story. Hope it was enjoyable and please drop a review, if it's not too much of a trouble. Since the story structure I have in mind is still rather loose, I'm currently very open to incorporating any valid suggestions into the story.

-EB


	2. The Rallying Call of Light and Darkness

**Chapter 1: The Rallying Call of Light and Darknes****s**

…

…_.._

_Fuyuki became tainted upon the conclusion of the fifth instance of the Holy Grail War after the destruction of its physical vessel. Through conjecture based on the behavior of the Fuyuki Holy Grail thus far, the speculation exists that the grail's contents spilled over and was absorbed into Fuyuki's ley line. It is possible to speculate that the operation of the Greater Grail would manifest even more strongly in the area surrounding Fuyuki in the near future._

_At its current stage, it is difficult to gauge the depth and the extent of its influence, but there are signs to indicate that the corruption is spreading beyond the initial point of contact. The rate has been steady, but had grown more vigorous approximately in the last two years._

_Based on the account of Emiya Shirou, the victor of the fifth Holy Grail War, the attempt to eradicate the grail and its contents through exposure to a powerful energy source seemed marginally successful. The result indicates the need to explore the use of conceptual weapons in destroying the Grail. A prompt, if not immediate, response is advised._

_With this, I will conclude my report._

_\- Excerpt from the report of Caren Hortensia, minister of Fuyuki Church, supervisor of the Holy Grail War_

**Shinto, Fuyuki City**

**1.04 AM, November 2011 (Seven Years Later)**

The confined, abandoned building came alive with gnashing teeth and a swirling blade, the most vivid sign of life that the 4-storey Ishimura Trading Company seen since the hubbub of construction.

Locked in the heat of battle was Emiya Shirou, the unlikely victor of the Fifth Holy Grail War. Both his hands maintained a relaxed grip on the hilt of a katana.

The third floor of the building, deserted after imminent bankruptcy, served as a battleground between a man and a pack of hounds, each with glaring red eyes and inky black flesh. Foul black liquid oozed from their cavities, emitting sickly fumes. They were desperately hungry, both for prana and flesh, but the few hasty ones that were cut down gave warning to the rest that the man they had lured into the abandoned building was not there to satiate their hunger.

The slightly curved blade drew deadly arcs in the air, making quick work of the beasts that dared approached. Three bleeding lumps laid dying at his feet as warning to the others. The beasts ceased their independent assault as their earlier confidence was replaced by apprehension.

Likewise, Shirou restrained himself from making a headlong charge into their midst. Recklessness was counterproductive to the objective he had in mind. Using the small window of opportunity, he made a quick scan of the pack, but the darkness and pungent odor made it different to search for his mark.

A shrill howl from the center of the horde put an end to the standoff.

Both ears perking at the sound, Shirou made swift note of the white-maned alpha that had given the attack order. Its roar emboldened the rest to overcome fear and initiate the offensive.

Multiple hounds rushed in at once, a few from his front and even more from his blind spots, but they proved to be no cause for concern. Many of his recent fights had made him learn to hold his ground while being outnumbered.

Using reinforcement magecraft to overclock his mental processes, Shirou's shortened his reaction time to a superhuman level. Movements passed by him as if watching the world in slow motion. Exploiting the subtle lapses when each beast entered his sword range, he cut down the first in midair leap. Two more received deadly wounds as he rushed through the opening.

Shirou dashed off to the side, three more still hot on his heels. Just before reaching a dead end, he spun 180 degrees and ducked, leaving the beasts crashing into the solid wall headfirst. Stunned and dazed, they became easy prey for his flurry of slashes.

The ensuing fight became simple with the wall covering his blind spot. Head and limbs flew as the remainder of the pack followed on the offense.

Deeming that their all-out assault had failed, the beasts opted for the alternate approach. Frantic barking erupted from the alpha. The pack scattered, leaving only a few to remain for distraction, as the rest fled the scene.

Bodies poured down the stairwell like raging rapids. By the time that the two vanguards were properly dealt with, the entire floor was clear. All the creatures that weren't dead or dying had at that point disappeared.

"Don't screw with me, you bastards! Like hell I'm going to let you kill anyone! "

Realizing that his mark had made a swift escape, a sense of urgency spurred Shirou to action. The time and effort invested to make this hunting night possible were about to be wasted. Too much was at stake to be calling off the hunt from this unexpected obstacle alone.

Two reinforced legs carried him across the unpaved concrete floor. Shirou picked up the pace as he reached the staircase, launching himself over multiple steps at a time. He had no intention of heading downstairs to engage them in a game of high-stakes tag.

Not just yet.

Their bestial form made them swift on their feet, faster than his human feet even when augmented with reinforcement spell, but there was one thing they could never outrun. Many had tried, and just as many had fallen prey to the tip of his arrow.

A blast of cold wind greeted him as a kick dislodged the bolted door leading to the rooftop. Without breaking momentum, Shirou dashed onward and stomped down to a stop just before he would teeter off the edge. Quite luckily the unfinished building had yet to install any permanent railings that would've foiled his plans.

His tattered and sewn work gloves were removed along the way. The padded gloves was meant to stave off the late-November cold, not firing an arrow. When firing at such a distance, an archer was required to have that nimble fingers control.

"Trace on."

Shirou retrieved the composite bow that now slung across his back, checked the string's tautness and readied his stance. An arrow of solid prana materialized in his right hand.

Darting shadows scattered from the base of the building towards all directions. He counted six, but there could've been more that had used different exits. It didn't matter though. Those small fries didn't matter.

His well-trained eyes gauged the depth and distance. His right hand rose up to feel the wind.

Experience compelled him to focus all murderous attention to the one particular hound, the alpha of the pack. The beasts had derived their pack mentality from it. With it dead, the remaining ten or so would break into solitary actions. For the time being, that should be enough to deal with the possibility of mass casualties should the pack develop the brazenness to descend upon the more populous part of the city.

Holding in the air after a sharp breath intake, Shirou steadied his left hand and pulled the string, his aim deliberately lowered to adjust for the target's movement and the tailwind. The sequence of movements from the time of kyudo practices directed his arm from the bowstring pulled and his grip released.

Twang!

The arrow flew straight through, and within a single breathless moment a howl erupted from the darkness. The hound's bulky form skidded along the sidewalk, but a swift recovery kept it afoot. Its movement was reduced to an erratic gait, causing it to teeter between the edge of the road and the sidewalk like those drunkards that gathered at the corners of Miyama shopping street. Still, it managed to slip out of sight into a distant building.

"Talk about rotten luck…" Shirou clucked his tongue. He had failed to hit the vitals. A sudden gust of wind altered the trajectory of his arrow and left it embedded a few centimeters off target.

"That Tohsaka…" he spat the name as if it was cursed"…Never here to help when things got difficult."

It just couldn't be helped. His arrows lacked the same destructive potential of Rin's jewel magecraft, which would have already pulverized the beast to smithereens.

Though trained in both kendo and kyudo, Shirou had strongly preferred to take the beast down with an arrow during this hunting night. It would have been a perfect crime, without him having to even enter the scene. The carcass and the steel-tipped arrowhead would disintegrate into fragments of prana long before any unfortunate passerby would stumble upon them. None of that was possible after the injured beast had retreated to hide in one of the abandoned building.

"Time to do it the hard way…" Shirou grumbled.

Expelling a tuft of frozen breath, Shirou vaulted over the wall and down the 4-storey height. The internal flow of prana was redirected into the pathway opening to strengthen both his legs against the impact that would otherwise left the legs of an ordinary man broken. The reinforcement spell had fortunately allowed him to have graduated from that stage. Seven years was a long time to be perfecting only one of the two main spells in his arsenal.

Over the years, Shirou had more than less grown to be more adept in his control of this molten-steel-like flow of energy that circulated within him. Prana, as he later came to learn its name, was one of the concepts Rin had apparently tried to drill into his head, but ultimately failed.

"Guess idiocy is an incurable disease." Her words still left a pricking thorn in his self-esteem.

He was never the type to learn spells and incantations by theory; allowing his body to become more familiar with practical techniques during combat tended to be the better way to go.

His lower limbs were driven down to the concrete below without harm, being strengthened to possess the resilience of steel pillars. He broke the fall without needing to roll forward to dissipate the force. His steps retraced the alpha's escape route, still with a bow in hand in case of the need to fend off any surprises.

He could afford to be bolder during these hunting nights. There was little to fear of being discovered when only criminals and drug-addicts would be the only wanderers out during the early morning hour in Fuyuki. Even then, most of them would know better than to choose this desolate strip as a rendezvous point.

Repeated disasters had left many buildings in this particular area of the Shinto district _uncompleted_. Neither the contractors nor the owners were immune to the unfortunate accidents that happened all too often. Those who did not fall victim soon became convinced that their investment would be safer elsewhere.

Murders, abductions, mysterious disappearances, and conspiracy theories; all found their place in the recent local news. Humanity's hunger for gruesome stories just could not be satiated and there always seemed to be news material in the making out in the abandoned part of Fuyuki.

Shirou safely reached the other building, no ambush springing up along the way. The rest of the pack seemed to have chosen survival as their top priority. Their strategy was to limit casualties. They knew their hunter could only pursue one/

The door-less frame at the entrance stood like an opening between demonic jaws, beckoning him. The distinctive raw carnivorous stench mixed with the sickly sweet fume of Grail's corruption stung his nostrils and grew more overwhelming with every step. Darkness obscured the interior of the building, leaving every possible gruesome detail to his imagination.

The building was their lair, undoubtedly.

A pair of canine eyes might be able navigate its way in the dark, but a pair of typical human eyes sported no chance of copying the feat. But that limitation only applied to those humans who could be labelled as 'ordinary'.

"Trace on…"

Shirou mumbled the spell aria after a quick glance around to ensure the absence of any hostile presence. A split second of self-hypnosis was all that he needed to draw the prana from within his circuits. The same conceptual mystery, performed when taking apart appliances, did have its practical uses in analyzing the structure of the battle site.

His consciousness traversed across the building, analyzing the structures down in detail. Anomalies such as tufts of fur and fresh gashes across the ground floor were noted, but so far nothing appeared that resembled a half-eaten carcass. The flock must've only been transformed recently before they had time for their first hunt. The realization stabilized his quickened pulse. It was generally unpleasant to see any form of living creature falling prey to the Grail's taint, but the severity just multiplied when they started claiming additional lives.

Alternatively, he could have reinforced his eyesight to operate in a low-light environment, but it sure didn't hurt to map out all potential escape routes and ambush sites before proceeding.

The projection spell consumed another second to construct a functioning sword. He just didn't feel like testing his luck against the alpha beast when armed with only the blunt end of a bow. After numerous mistakes, he eventually came to learn that one was never supposed to give any quarter in combat. When lives were at stake, carelessness was not a thing that could be afforded. A cautious man was the one to walk out of a battlefield alive.

Shirou advanced with a still-fresh blueprint of the location in mind, eyes peeled for an incoming ambush. He treaded lightly, taking momentary backward glances.

_First floor…cleared._

Just as Shirou seemed to lax his guard, the hound dived down like a jet-black torpedo from above, fangs all bare and gleaming. The ledge above made for a prime hiding place. All along, it had been waiting for the prime opportunity to strike.

Though badly beaten and outmatched, the cornered animal was also a fearsome one. The dogged determination to live developed his opponent from the mentality of a simple beast. Within its small bestial brain, a train of thought emerged that no good would stem from an attempt to outrun the hunter with an arrow hole in its backside. Instead, it pinned all hopes of survival on the foe's demise.

It was still a futile attempt.

Earlier structural analysis had allowed Shirou to perceive the incoming threat with ease. The trail of overflowing drool that stopped before the solid perch above was an evident sign of an ambush.

Prana exuded through from his fingertips and took form, just in the nick of time to intercept the attack. Three spears sprouted from the ground where his hand had touched, each no shorter than two meters, just nameless spears wielded by nameless hands. Still, they had the element of surprise on their side.

Expecting to sink its fangs into succulent human flesh, the beast instead hurled its weight against three razor-steeled tips. Three shafts emitted creaky protest and bent against the incoming mass. When resilience prevailed, the spears snapped back to their original position, rending flesh and bone with a violent jerking movement.

A deafening howl followed.

His duty was accomplished. The spears then crumbled and dissipated, leaving the skewered hound to fall with a dull thud. A once defiant roar was now reduced to whimpers.

Though mangled with multiple wounds, the alpha beast was magnificent in its stature. Glowing bulges ran across its body like blood vessels, circling most densely around the shaggy mane on its chest. Its inky black flesh was bloated like an inflatable dinghy with excess prana that forcibly pervaded its undeveloped pathways.

The kind-hearted Shirou couldn't help but feel slight sympathy for the animal, but the sentiment only extended so far. There was no cure for the corruption that existed within the Grail. Cold logic dominated his remaining course of his action. His sword would soon relieve the creature from its miserable state, an act of mercy done under the guise of violence.

Purging these new evils that plagued Fuyuki reinforced him like a blade of steel, both in the strength and in the spirit. No more was he the wide-eyed boy who stared in awe at the passing figures of heroes. Emiya Shirou, as he would like to believe, was a hero in the making, slowly climbing the steps towards the lofty throne.

Making a gradual way to the fallen body, Shirou raised the sword for an overhead swing. That was when the alpha made its final move, springing up with the last strength in its hind legs. Still drunk off his victory, the desperate charge caught Shirou off-guard. A sharp impact to his lower stomach sent him tumbling through the door and a few meters out of the building.

Near death agony drove the hound suicidal. With a final abandon, the beast pounced on Shirou's fallen form, all its remaining life devoted to exacting revenge on its foe. Its deathly jaw went for his throat.

The weight of the paws on his chest warned Shirou of the imminent danger. Desperate to intercept the bite, his right fist lashed out by instinct, a move he came to regret merely seconds later. After the chaotic scramble that ensued, half the length of his forearm had found its way into being lodged in the fleshy cavity of its mouth.

"Son of a…!" Shirou yelped, partly in panic and partly in disgust.

An unsettlingly close gnashing sound followed as the beast chomped down with glee. Its oversized head jerked to the side in an attempt to tear the trapped limb off its socket, but the reinforcement spell kept his limb intact and the rushing adrenaline dulled the piercing sensation of pain.

The tables were turned as Shirou overcame the split second of panic and wrested the weakened beast down. Streams of blackened blood gushed out with the weight of the man pressed down on top of it.

"Trace on!"

Focusing his mind amidst the turmoil of battle was nothing short of a feat, but that was exactly what his seven years of battle experiences had trained Shirou to do. From within the fleshy coil, a sword materialized. Through the bite and the blind swipes of claws, he remained steadfast and plunged the entire length of steel into the beast's jaw cavity, gouging its vital organs.

The beast might possess impressive vitality, but even it couldn't endure the trauma of losing multiple imperative organs at once. The skirmish reached its apex for merely a second before dying down to silence.

Smoke and sickly fumes erupted from the still-warm carcass of the alpha, an unnaturally fast process of decomposition.

Shirou gagged and stumbled backward.

"Urgh...Should've finished you off with an arrow.

Though not _immaculately_, his mission was nonetheless accomplished.

Conveniently, it saved him the trouble of handling the bodies, although he couldn't exactly be grateful while lying on top on of it. The smell of sulfur mixed with rotting flesh caused his nose to throb and stained the entire front of his work jacket.

The remains of the hunt would disappear before sunrise, both the weapons he had hastily projected and the fallen beasts. No trace would remain of the carnage that had happened under the secrecy of the night, leaving them as only collateral damage from the taint of the Holy Grail.

Shirou let out a small grumble. One more formality remained before he could be home dealing with the stink.

With all the worsening incidents, cursing seemed to be all that he did nowadays. This was the third incident in a month's time, and the 'supposedly' vigilant supervisor of the area had been out romping around in London. Therefore, the burden most logically and unfairly was transferred on to him following an abrupt request for Tohsaka Rin's presence in the Clock Tower.

'The Chief (and the only) Retainer to the House of Tohsaka' did not sport a pleasant ring, but the title eased the entry of an outsider into the circle of magi.

….Besides, his grocery bills weren't just going to pay for themselves. A sad realistic truth was that even a magus needed to be financially compensated for their efforts.

Shirou balanced himself using a broken fountain and staggered away from the scene. He found it unfortunate that stained clothing just couldn't be dumped down the ditch somewhere. Decency aside, the sudden cold snap of late November made the option impractical. With no possible hope to be hitching a ride while stinking to high heaven, he would rather avoid trudging through subzero weather with nothing on but his shorts.

For a moment, Shirou had to resist the temptation to vault over the railing and soak himself to the bone while proceeding along the river path. At this point, it just felt like any source of clean water would do, but the freezing cold would undoubtedly make him regret pulling off that stupid move.

Shirou sighed. He was in no position to complain. Part of the blame rested on his shoulders.

The decision he'd made that fateful night to destroy the vessel of the Holy Grail might have saved mankind and condemned the unfortunate city at the same time. The last Holy Grail War resulted in neither fire nor massacre, but it had contributed more than its well-due share of the disasters in Fuyuki.

Shirou snorted in disgust. The adjective 'holy' should be dropped, for good and obvious reasons.

As his gambit had turned out, even mankind's strongest sword could not fully purge all of the world's evil. Destroying the mass of foul energy at the heart of the city's ley lines was a dire mistake, and cleaning up the spilled over taint was only fair retribution.

Much of the remaining content had been spared from Excalibur. Without a vessel for containment, the pool of energy had acted like the errant force of a natural disaster, spreading plague-like corruption through the land; A vial of black ink dirtying the once clean flow of energy within Fuyuki.

Such was the final curse that it had laid on the city that received its blood, and the Holy Grail had gained its foothold in the town like never before.

They referred to the phenomenon as the 'Blackening.' The outcome of it resulted in Fuyuki being transformed into a platform of the Greater Grail. The spontaneous wishes being granted had followed and those unfortunate enough to succumb to the temptation were twisted into monsters that had to be hunted down. Even innocent wishes to live to another day would corrupt men and beast alike, granting strength but only at the cost of restraint and reason.

His guess would be that the hounds were once stray dogs, starved by the approaching winter. The instinctive drive to live united their minds and had drawn the Grail into their midst. After decades of exploitation, the Holy Grail's wish granting standard had become much lower.

Lost in thought, Shirou found himself desensitized to the smell by the time that he reached the city junction. A difficult choice was ahead of him: whether to continue ahead to report his mission or turn right to head home. Luckily, a pleasant surprise waited for him in the form of Caren Hortensia, who was seated on a mossy brick wall that partitioned a small flowerbed and walkway.

She raised her right arm high and waved after noticing his arrival. Just like her father, she rarely if at all displayed any interest on her face. The plain priestly robes and pale hair gave her a look of innocence, but Shirou had already learned the hard way of the need to watch his words around her. She had the looks of an angel, but her mouth came from the devil himself.

"Good work."

Kirei Kotomine was a man full of surprises. It was quite a long stretch to believe that someone twisted to his very core could have fathered the innocent girl that had now usurped his position. Shirou recalled that heart-stopping moment when she revealed her lineage with the same passion of someone describing their evening meal.

There were many causes for Shirou to be guilty of, especially the issue of driving a sword into her father's heart. In the end, since she wasn't awfully willing to pursue the issue, he decided that best course of action was to adopt the same case of convenient forgetfulness.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Shirou told her, his voice slightly surprised.

"My bottom is cold…" Caren said. Her tone indicated it more as a report, not a complaint. "…And you need a bath…badly"

"That's because you're sitting out in the open, and it can't be helped, can it? Not like I can just pluck those hounds off from miles away." On instinct he pulled the front part of his jacket for a whiff. A foul stench greeted his nostrils. "…Well, anyway, you know you don't really have to wait for me out here."

"It's fine. I'm just showing appreciation for your help," Caren said, trying her hardest not to gag. Instead, she covered her nose with the hem of her robe.

"Thanks, I guess, but you know that I don't mind making the detour to the church. It's worse to make a girl freezes her butt off in a winter night waiting."

"I appreciate it. You can be a real gentleman, Emiya Shirou… perhaps after properly taking a bath. I recommend to take one every three days at the absolute minimum."

"Wait, this smell's from the hounds. You're not thinking that I normally smell like this, do you?"

"Oh, you don't?" Caren cocked her head to the side and pondered. "I see. That would make more sense, but please do remember to take a bath still."

"Yeah…got it now. I'll do that the first thing when I'm home."

"Please do."

"Let's move on from that bath issue." Shirou let out a breath of relief as she agreed. "Well, I mean you're from the church and all, but it's not like you have to follow up with every single thing that I do in a report, is it?"

"The affairs related to the Holy Grail are also affairs of the church…or at least that's what I'm supposed to say," she said, shrugging. Caren apparently did not belong with those zealots that characterized many of the church personnel. "Besides, as Tohsaka Rin said, you're so suicidal that someone must be keeping an eye over you at all times. Who else would know to send in a rescue team if you fail to show up?"

"Well, that's…" Shirou cringed.

"Isn't that right? You were quite a Master back in the day, jumping in to shield your Servant from Berserker like that. That's the first time something like that happened through the history of Holy Grail War."

"Wait, that was-"

"Hmm? Was what?"

"…Fine…I get it."

Knowing better than to argue, Shirou made a grunting sound in implicit agreement. He had no retort to spare whenever that foolish segment of his past was dug out. Instead, he deemed it safer to simply get to business and proceeded to outline the details of the hunt, the location, the number of grail beasts remaining, and their behavior. Besides, the late night mission left him with little patience to prolong civil exchanges.

The worst part of the story was that he still couldn't honestly claim to be above the vice.

The exchanges with the slightly eccentric Caren had always been this way: abrupt, direct, and always on the verge of being verbally abusive. Caren's blunt honesty in laying bare the fault of others could turn any careless comments lethal. Not that he minded. Past all her quirks, she was still infinitely more pleasant to deal with than her father.

"Anyway, sorry that things dragged on quite late."

"It's fine. I have to prepare for guests tonight, so everything works out." Satisfied, Caren nodded and placed both the notebook and ballpoint pen into her right pocket. "Also, thank you for your report as usual. Things around here will be more troublesome very soon. On that note-"

"Can it be for later? I'd rather not be keeping both of us out in the cold for longer than necessary," Shirou said.

"This is important though…" Caren protested.

"It's nothing so important as to keep a girl out in this cold. I'll drop by tomorrow." Shirou was certain that it would be no more than another mundane report, nothing worth troubling his mind over for the night.

"Very well..." Caren cocked her head to the side, pondered for a moment, and nodded. "I understand then we'll conclude tonight with just a report. If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way."

"Nothing more…Thanks again for tonight."

"Stay strong and be sure to have plenty of rest. I'm sure the Lord will take note of your plight."

"I'll call you tomorrow then." Not really registering her parting words but sensing the goodwill behind it, Shirou waved a simple goodbye and went on his way.

"Oh, one last thing, if anything should happen, please don't hesitate to run to the church. I'll keep the front door open tonight just in case."

"…Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

During one of her more pleasant days, Caren had told him that finding a new minister for a city like Fuyuki was an issue that had driven many in the Vatican to countless headaches. As the stage of a Holy Grail War, there were only few of those ordained men who had the heart to be appointed to the city, and those who had the heart often lacked the skill to survive. A stroke of luck came by when they'd found Caren.

With all the children corpses in the basement given a proper service, the church of Fuyuki flourished under her care and became a proper place of respite from the turmoil of the city. As a fellow victim of the Fuyuki fire, the proper handling of the bodies gave Shirou a sense of closure and an immediate liking to the girl who'd come to replace her father as the church's minister.

The Tohsaka's Christian faith allowed them to maintain an amicable relationship with the Church in addition to the Magi Association. As their retainer, he had to carry on this spirit and share with Caren any information he'd learned of the grail beasts and its kin.

The Church was awfully interested in the behavior of the Fuyuki Holy Grail, always had been. Any artifact that fitted the bill of the Holy Grail had to be placed under surveillance, if only for reasons of formality. It would be unbecoming of the Church to not give a well-due attention. Though the misconceptions had only become more evident in the recent years, he supposed those higher-ups were reluctant to limit their operations there. Faulty judgment could be difficult to accept for those who look down from above.

Shirou told himself to get rid of those racing trains of thought. What the church planned for the Grail was none of his business. He left the grand scheme of things, the macrocosm, the long-term cause and effect, to be worried about by the old and the 'supposedly' wise of the Association and the Church.

Emiya Shirou's duty was first and foremost to lives of the innocent and the helpless.

And he intended to keep it that way.

**Emiya Residence (3.18AM)**

Shirou fumbled for his house key with nearly frozen hands. After the adrenaline rush of the fight had receded, he didn't feel like working his way back to comb the dark building for his pair of gloves. He had little on his mind after the full frontal soak in that foul liquid but to have a quick bath.

"I'm home."

Only the sound of his own voice echoed in reply. Shirou's blessed youthful days of being greeted at the entrance with warmth and the drifting aroma of miso soup had long been over. Now only the cold empty corridor was there to greet his arrival home.

Shirou let out a sigh. His gaze trailed across the darkened hallway and the dusty kitchen. The Emiya Residence was just too big to for a single lonely man to live in.

His tattered work coat was removed even before he managed to have the heater up and running. Normally, he would have stuffed it into the same drawer until the next hunt. After a few seconds of inspection, he deemed the smell unbearable and threw away the jacket along with other articles of clothing that were beyond saving. They would go into a fire or garbage dump later.

He slowly trudged toward the bathroom, hoping that a blast of warm water would be enough to recover his spirit from the haunting solitude.

Taiga, Sakura, and Shirou…

The family of three had broken after each of the members went their separate ways.

Wordlessly, they drifted apart. They would have made conscious efforts to patch things up had there been an argument or a fight. This gradual separation was far subtler and bitterer, giving them no chance to react until it was too late. Awkwardness grew and with new-found responsibilities in their life, the hectic breakfasts and joyous dinners had become a thing of the past.

That was the price Shirou had paid to set his foot on the path toward becoming a Heroic Spirit…

Sakura still came by from time to time and he would entertain her with conversation and a meal as before, but that close familial relationship had all but disappeared.

The real mortal blow to their relationship was his attraction to Saber. Since years ago he was not entirely blind to Sakura's affection, but their situation after the Grail War was different. Earlier he was unsure about his own feelings. Now, he had little doubt that he would turn her down.

Guilt left him incapable of accepting Sakura's kindness. He deemed it beyond cruel to be taking advantage of her while pining for another woman. The same part of that idealistic young Shirou still remained in him. He was committed to a single-minded faithfulness to the only woman he had fallen in love with, even though they were separated by all the conceivable rules of space and time.

The issue with Taiga was less subtle, but not any easier to be resolved. Coincidentally, the year of the Fifth Holy Grail War was also the year of her grandfather's, Fujimura Raiga's, death and the final year that Tiger-sensei could be seen in the vicinity of their high school. A power vacuum and the tight family bonds of the organization demanded her involvement to fill in the now vacant position of power.

Once a goofy English teacher, now the boss of the Fuyuki yakuza.

Those who knew the truth behind her disappearance found the sudden shift even more difficult to comprehend. Likewise, Taiga herself seemed to be deeply affected. Perhaps due to the rather unsavory nature of the work or the increasing responsibilities, Shirou never knew.

Scarce text messages kept their connection alive. Emotional distances had grown over time, but never to the point of severing contact with one another. Their relationship could never deteriorate so far, but they both found it increasingly difficult to be comfortably barging into the other's life without permission. If only the other party would show the willingness to communicate, then they would surely respond in kind. It was just that neither of them had the courage to pick up that telephone and dial.

These thoughts occupied his mind during a full hour of intense washing, comforted only by the sensation of water traveling from his scalp down the base of his neck. Though pale and wizened by the water and smelling strongly of soap, he was glad to get rid of the stench.

Shirou suspected that it wouldn't be until daybreak before his fatigue-ridden self could manage to have a good sleep. These hunting nights had turned him into an insomniac. He just couldn't easily placate his senses once they were alerted to danger. It usually took hours for his gears to wind down to the point of lying down and sleeping.

_Breakfast…then the early morning routine…Hope I'll be ready to sleep by then._

The thought of breakfast dampened Shirou's spirit. The only viable sources of food he remembered were the stale few-days-old rice left in the cooker and some pickled vegetables in the cupboard. Apparently, after having his full rest, tomorrow would have to be a grocery day.

The opportunities he had to enter the kitchen became increasingly seldom. Instead, much of his free time was spent playing recluse in the same old toolshed. The lack of companions at the table had long since made him gave up on cooking. Strip away the smiles and compliments of those who tasted his foods, and all that remained of cooking was a tedious chore.

But tonight Emiya Shirou was pleasantly surprised.

He'd expected to find an empty dinner table. Instead, he found a grocery bag from a family store down the street waiting for him. Inside it contained a small set of plastic-wrapped Tupperware. Curious, Shirou squinted to examine the attached pink post-it note.

* * *

_To Emiya-Senpai_

_I stopped by your house earlier today, but you weren't home._

_I'm sorry I barged in without your permission, but I made some extra miso soup and teriyaki chicken, so I packed some up for you. I hope you'll enjoy them, Senpai. Please have a good night._

_PS. The food might be a little cold by the time you get back, so make sure to warm it up before eating._

* * *

Shirou had a wry smile, grateful and guilty for the decision not to ask Sakura to return the spare key to the Emiya residence.

Though she had nearly graduated from her university, Sakura's formal apologetic tone had become one of the quirks that defined their ordinary exchanges as of late. A certain forlornness assailed him while rereading the note followed by an appropriate sense of emotional distance. There never was a need for her to ask permission to barge in and make dinner.

It was for the best, the kindest way out for both of them.

Initially reluctant to avail himself to her kindness, the rumblings of his honest stomach ended up having the final say. The luscious aroma of soy sauce and miso emanating from within the plastic bag was irresistible to a famished man.

_Guess I'll have to find something to make it up to her later_

Salivating, Shirou wasted no time in tearing the wrapping from the single portion of the Japanese broth and the broiled strips of chicken. He drew in a lung-full of the smell of seasonings with a hint of homeliness, just one of the finer things in life that he sorely missed.

RING!

But the sharp telephone ring transported him back to reality, earning a well-deserved groan.

Exactly one person would actually make a phone call to him at such an inconvenient time. A nine hour time difference was a major annoyance, especially when there was an emergency and her meetings dragged on to the evening. Still, Shirou found it better than tagging along with her to the Association.

A few earlier trips to London had allowed him to learn the hard way that the more accomplished in the Clock Tower deemed a fully grown magus who lacked the knowledge of even the five elements to be a laughingstock. For this reason, the fakers, who specialized in projection magecraft, were rarely recognized within the hierarchical structure of the Clock Tower. The best they could hope for were to be specialists who performed odd jobs for the more prominent families of magi.

A bitter thought occurred to Shirou. If the Clock Tower ever welcomed him, it would be more as a test subject than as another upstanding magus. There definitely would be some who would love nothing more than to extract some…biological samples, as Rin had most kindly put it, from a man who had at one point merged with the Avalon.

Then again, someone needed to around in Fuyuki to keep to growing number of the Grail beasts in check.

Annoyed and grumbling, Shirou picked up the phone. "Emiya Shirou speaking."

"Hello, how's my favorite retainer doing?"

"Oh, just the usual: cranky, sleep-deprived, and underpaid. Thanks for asking." After a couple of years under her servitude, he'd plenty of opportunities to sharpen his tongue. Rin once commented that the increasingly frequent streaks of sarcasm were turning him into the likeness of Archer, much to his chagrin.

"What's wrong with you? Not in a mood to talk?"

"Guess you can say that, if you still don't realize that it's about 3AM over here. What's with the bright idea of calling in middle of the night?"

"Sorry I had to disturb your sleep, Emiya-kun, but it happens to be something urgent this time. Besides, I'm pretty sure that you have been out hunting tonight, so I technically didn't exactly disturb your sleep, did I?"

Shirou replied with a grumbling sound. She was right. "You still disturbed my breakfast though."

"I said I'm sorry. By the way, I'm using a public phone so don't call back with this number and let's just get to business, shall we?"

"And your cellphone?"

"Charred, melted, and thrown away; probably halfway to the dumpster by now," Rin said.

"Stuff's gone wrong again, I see…"Shirou said, suppressing an urge to laugh.

"…What else? Hahh, all the traveling around wore me out," Rin complained, heaving a large sigh.

"Just to let you know, it's also pretty darn tiring to be sacrificing my sleep and tracking those things all over the city."

"That's why I'm grateful for your assistance. I even bought you a souvenir, you know?"

"From London?"

"From Heathrow… a few hours before my flight to be exact. Where else?"

"How about no. I have enough of your Big Ben trinkets to fill a house."

"Is that so? And, here I am, generously planning to give you a Buckingham Palace keychain for a change," Rin said over the phone.

Shirou stifled a laugh. She wasn't even trying to conceal the lack of effort.

"Now then…" As the wave of giggles subsided, a certain air of seriousness overtook Rin's demeanor. "What's your situation?"

"Your concern is spot on...again. These guys are becoming more and more troublesome to deal with."

"Oh? Are they becoming too much for you to handle?"

"I'm not saying they are and probably not for a while, but I'd say things are getting worse. The hounded are getting riled up more and more. It won't be long before we start seeing bear-sized things running around."

"Hmm…I see."

"The number of the incidents is the thing I'm concern with though. Any more frequent than this, and I'll need to start splitting myself into two."

The devious giggles at interval between the explanations began to irritate him. Rin must have known something. "Well, Emiya-kun, I suppose you can put that worry to rest very soon."

"Yay…great…excellent, I'm almost shedding a tear in gratitude."

"What's with the sarcasm? You don't sound awfully interested, and it's a proper mission from the Association too, just so you know."

"Something inside me is telling that the difficulty will range from nightmarish to impossible."

"Oh? Who was it again that said he'll endure every challenge to become a Heroic Spirit?"

"Fine, fine, I get it…just don't ask for the impossible."

"It shouldn't be. Well, at least, I hope it wouldn't be, but for once you're absolutely right, Emiya-kun. Things will get icky pretty soon. Please do your best not to die before I come back. I expect to be greeted by a retainer, not a corpse."

"Hey, slow down. You said to prepare, but prepare for what exactly? What the heck do I have prepared for?"

"You mean Caren didn't tell you?"

"Nothing that I heard of."

"Geez, that girl, what's she doing…?" Rin complained, evidently suppressing the urge to swear.

Shirou laughed weakly. He might be to blame for that.

"Fine then, I just have to tell you myself." A pause came before Rin continued. Shirou could almost picture her alternating looks left and right to make sure that there were no eavesdropping ears. "Listen well and get prepared, Emiya-kun. Things are about to get complicated in Fuyuki."

"As if it isn't already. What's the worst that can happen? I'm guessing another Holy Grail War?"

No reply came from the other side.

"Tohsaka, don't tell me…Alright, this is one time I don't want you to tell me that I'm right."

"But I'm afraid you are, Emiya-kun," Rin picked up on the conversation eventually. "As you've guessed quite correctly, there will soon be another war in Fuyuki…In a sense, but also not exactly."

"Wait, it doesn't make any sense, not at all. I mean isn't the war supposed to be-"

"60 years apart, yes, but actually that means we'll have to talk later. My train's departing."

"Wait! You can't just leave me hanging like this!"

"It would be easy if I could explain it in a few seconds!" The annoyed Rin snapped. "Look, just call Caren or I'll brief you when I get home! The train's leaving!"

Uneasy silence reigned as the line went dead, but that didn't stop Shirou from mumbling complaints into the phone for a good minute afterward. He wanted confirmation to this growing anticipation in proper words.

"That little minx…Don't just yank someone around like that and leave them hanging."

He had heard before, most likely from Rin, that each instance of the Holy Grail War is 'supposedly' sixty years apart.

"So why now of all times? Why would another war be staged?"

Shirou's best guess was that the destruction of the lesser grail and the left over energy from not granting a single wish during the fifth war might have something to do it. He had never fully comprehended the conceptual mystery of the Grail and the way it functioned. The usual theory talks always eluded him.

He didn't have much of an opportunity to be mulling the matter over. The ringing of bells soon echoed in the hallway. The sound was innocent enough had it not been previously used as a warning system for intruders that entered into the Emiya estate.

"Still….it seems like that Tohsaka's warning is always right in the end. Gotta be careful from now on."

Shirou reached for the bokken that he carried around for protection. The practice weapon, though lacking in lethal ability, served as the core of his projection mage craft. His softly mumbled incantation sent prana enveloping the entire shaft and transforming lacquered wood into razor steel.

Lugging around a piece of wood in the safety of his own home might seem excessive, but having his home repeatedly breached during the last war had convinced Shirou to not overestimate the protection it offered. Skulking from corner to corner, he felt a pang of both relief and disappointment while peering over the edge of a wall.

A hound…

Shirou's anticipated grand prelude of the new Holy Grail War made reality a disappointment. A single hound stalked the hall, probably lured in to avenge the death of its alpha. He assumed that more would be entering from the other directions. One seemed like an oddly low number to give them enough confidence to initiate an attack.

"It will do for a warm up, I suppose."

His right hand instinctive moved to touch the patch of flesh that once housed his command spells. The uncanny similarities with the fateful night that had his heart leaping in his rib cage, but there was also a difference from the time, when Lancer chased him down the corridor.

He'd entered the last war as a child, ignorant and naïve. Now, he was different, prepared in both strength and spirit. The approaching war no longer made him shudder in apprehension as before. Instead, Emiya Shirou would stand firm in his conviction to protect the innocent. The imminent atrocity of the Holy Grail War be damned.

Kirei Kotomine's criticism of his ideal had long been a thing of the past. A hypocrite or not, he stood by the ideal even more fervently before. Without him having to make a wish, the world was already a place where evil thrived. There simply was no need for his wish to play a part in it. All that he had to do was to reject passivity and stand up in resistance.

Still, in the grand schemes of things, Shirou couldn't help but feel guilty on account of personal interest.

"Wait for me, Saber. This time I'll fight by your side."

This time he wouldn't just stand by to receive protection. The thought strengthened Shirou's grip on the hilt. The corridor was too narrow to be swinging a sword around, so he dashed forth with the blade raised parallel to the ground. The luminescent glow emitted from the hound's fur made aiming for its vitals easy even in the dark corridor.

Clang!

"Wha-"

The blade was deflected midair as the beast turned and caught the sword in its jaw in one swift movement. Almost purely by reflex, Shirou lashed out with a kick, but his enemy was a tad bit faster.

_Not a hound…A wolf_, Shirou realized before its backside, bulging with muscles, slammed into his stomach.

Sheer pain short-circuited his body.

Shirou sailed through the paper door and across the dining room. Even screaming was beyond him. If the strength of the alpha hound was like a punch, then this wolf was a wrecking ball. His vision grew wavy as he landed with an impressive thud on the other side of the corridor, arms and legs drained of sensation.

_Shit…Not again…_

Apparently, luck didn't seem to be on his side tonight. Assuming the fight to be swift and easy, the carelessness to not strengthen his body turned out to be a fatal mistake. It was too late for Shirou once the damage had been done. There was no healing spell within his arsenal to recover from any mistake made.

_Can't…move_

Laying on the ground, face-up and breathless reminded Shirou of the first night that had drawn him into the vicious fate of the Holy Grail War, but this time the feeling of utter helplessness was not there.

He could fight. He could take on this enemy, if only he had another chance.

"…Poor hunter…Hide your presence…better…."

Stray words entered his ears as the wolf crouched over him. If the wolf was human, Shirou could swear that it was snorting at his pathetic performance, looking down on him like a pest that wasn't worth its time.

Pain pierced through his throat, deep enough to reach the jugular. Shirou yelped and struggled, but beast's jaws clamped down with machine-like resilience and snapped upward, tearing flesh off in chunks as it went. Shirou convulsed and collapsed from pain as he was sent rolling to the opposite side of the wall.

Panicking as his very life poured out of the neck cavity, Shirou jammed his right fist into the open wound. His vain effort to plug the leak did nothing to slow the outflow of the warm liquid inside.

His vision flickered and faded. Only the picturesque scene of the wolf as it turned away from its fallen prey was seared into his mind.

Then darkness fell.


	3. The Dream Chaser

**Chapter 2: The Dreamchaser **

**Narita Express (Narita Airport Terminal 2), Tokyo **

"Excuse me, I'm in a hurry."

With a plastic folder in her hand, Rin made her way toward the reserved carriage. Using only one hand for support, the occasional bumps and turns in the Tokyo subway sent her swaying into the crowd.

Her traveling companion from the Clock Tower, Lord El-Melloi II, followed along a few steps behind. He had entered the Fourth War as Waver Velvet, but the later years had seen him rapidly rising through the ranks as a member of House Archibald. The passage of the war had transformed the once weak-willed child into a prominent instructor at the Clock Tower.

"That Emiya-kun… I hope he wouldn't do anything stupid before we get there," Rin mumbled as soon as they took a seat and closed the door. "I don't think he can actually outgrow his stupidity but still…"

"Bah! What's the worst thing he can do? Not like he can blow up himself up while preparing to summon," Lord El-Melloi II said, giving Rin a skeptical look.

"Oh, with him? You have no idea. Leave it to him to make a headlong dive into the most dangerous situation conceivable. A worm that lacked a sense of danger would make a prime target for those early birds, don't you think?"

"If there's a worm stupid enough to approach those early birds Servants on its own, it deserves to be eaten."

"That is exactly why I'm worried." Rin shook her head and sighed. "I already gave him the best protection any magus can have, so it would be interesting to see how he's going to get himself killed this time."

"Already sent her there, didn't you? Hell, I have no idea why you are so concerned about him. He's a surviving master for fuck's sake." Lord El-Melloi II casually brushed off her concern, unaware of the hazard that Shirou posed to himself.

"I'm looking forward to seeing your surprise after getting to know him."

"Bah, enough of that. Give me the document."

"Want to take a gander just now? That won't do, professor. Who was it that warned his students against procrastination, cause 'there will be no mercy'? Hmm, Professor Waver Velvet? "

"That's El-Melloi II for you. Just give me the bloody report." Grumbling, Lord El-Melloi II swiped the folders from her.

The forty-odd pages were filled to the brim with sensitive information. The staffs at the Clock Tower were surprisingly lenient to let them off with a copy. Then again, any ordinary man who happened to see it would regard the paper as no more than a premise for a bad fiction.

Lord El-Melloi II developed a full-face scowl after reading a full page or two. "Well shit, how did the thing come up with it this time? Who the hell gave it a seven year olds' fantasy about a good and evil showdown?"

Rin shrugged. "The actual system aside, it's actually about time. Just in time for this mission, I would say. That corruption in the grail had been causing more than its share of trouble."

The way that the Grail seemed to think on its own still remained a mystery to most of the magi world. Even extensive researches delivered little findings on the subject.

"Oi, you're sure this is correct? You're sure that Hallelujah bunch didn't get it wrong?"

"I believe so, but call Caren if you need someone with the authority to verify. I'm just the intermediary, remember?"

Rin did not entertain the possibility. Caren might've been a twisted person, but she cut no slack when it came to details in reporting, especially with the delicate matter of the Holy Grail War.

"Fourteen? As if seven wasn't enough to cook up troubles," Lord El-Melloi II snorted. "Shit, this is going to be one bloody hell of messed up ride…"

Rin leaned into the backrest of her seat and closed her eyes. Her companion for the trip wasn't a pleasant man to converse with, but true to his word, they were only a few hour train ride away from boarding this 'one hell of a messed up ride.'

Still, Tohsaka Rin was calm. The young Master of the last war had outgrown her anxiety and occasional inattentiveness. The mistake of missing her optimal summoning in the last war had been a pricking thorn in her side for long time.

_At least I got it right this time. _

The thought gave Rin a victorious grin, even if she had to rely on three alarm clocks and a buzzer that shrieked an ungodly noise to wake her up in the dead of the night.

**Emiya Residence **

Shirou waded through an unending darkness. A cloud of questions lingered heavily in his mind, but only one stood out from the rest.

"Am…I dead?"

"…Far from it." A foreign voice gave a reply to his rhetorical question. Shirou's vision suddenly returned to normal.

He stood in a meadow, parched and dry unlike the lush Avalon. A single oak tree stood amidst the bleak landscape. Its ugly branches stretched above him, unable to provide shade. Beneath the tree was an old man with the look of a Middle-Age magus, wizened and bearded, with a pointed hat.

At a glance, the old magus seemed to have lodged himself in the hollowed-out trunk, but a closer look showed that his torso had merged with the tree itself, a strange of symbiosis between man and plant. His limbs protruded from the trunk at weird angles, growing from it as if they were branches.

"Who are…?"

The magus raised one hand to silence his question.

"Before we talk would you like to plug that leak?"

Shirou groped around his neck. A fist-size hole was still gaping and pulsated with each breath. Panic surged until he realized that the wound didn't hurt.

Not in the slightest bit.

"What in the world…?"

"A good dream kills no one." The magus clearly seemed to be enjoying his reactions. "How are you feeling now?"

"As good as I can be with a hole in my neck, I suppose."

While there was no pain, his body still involuntarily shivered upon contact. Having a finger inside his neck cavity gave an uncomfortable intruding sensation.

"Ah, yes, let's fix that up, shall we?" The magus broke off a branch and extended it in Shirou's direction. A look of displeasure came over his face when the branch came up a few inches short. "Blasted tree! Come a little closer, won't you? Can't you see that I am trapped?"

Shirou reluctantly stepped forward. He would rather maintain a safe distance, but seeing that he had already stumbled into the magus' domain, that 'safe distance' probably didn't exist.

"There we go…"

Shirou yelped in surprise as the tip of the branch sent in a strange sensation, as if an army of ants was crawling over his wound. His hands shot up to for his neck, but the magus whacked both away with the same branch.

"Let it heal."

"Fine…" Shirou hesitantly lowered his hands. The urge to scratch was overwhelming. Truth be told, he didn't have high hopes for the magus' theatrical way of casting spells. "But, like I was asking…Where are we?"

"We are nowhere, for this is not a place. The correct answer to the question that you didn't ask is that we are in a dream; your dream to be precise."

"That makes it sound easy. So what, now I'll just have to whack myself in the head and I'll wake-up?"

"Correct. After all, what are dreams but a temporary respite? The question is, will you?" The magus' tone took a sudden grim turn. "…Your strength is hardly a match of your foe's. Even so, would you want to go back and face him, or would you rather sleep through this ordeal and wake when it passes?"

"It's obvious. I'm going back now," Shirou replied.

"Not the choice I was expecting. Furthermore, not even a moment to hesitate?" The magus seemed amused by his response.

"I'm pretty much used to fighting above my league. That's how it's going to be, if I want to be a hero. I'm not going to run away this time either."

"Amusing decisions, and an even more amusing rationale," the old magus remarked, "but I have known too much of your dreaming kind: naïve, dull, and lackluster. They are scarcely the material for a hero."

"Well, I won't give up though. It won't be only a dream when I make it come true…I know I can." Shirou replied dryly. He didn't need anyone else to remind him of his inadequacy.

"You spoke true. It is wiser not to make hasty judgment. Among all the roadside pebbles, there can also be one that shines when polished." The magus tried reach for his beard, but his arm on the other side of the trunk wouldn't reach. After a while, he gave up on indulging in his old habit.

"Putting the things about me aside, I'm positive that you're a Servant, so why would you help me? Don't tell me you want my help breaking out of that tree?" Shirou asked.

"Quite unfortunately I only have my own stupidity to blame for this curse. It is blight on my old bones but hardly the kind that can be aided by someone else." The old magus observed Shirou's wariness almost patronizingly, a gesture that struck Shirou as peculiar. "For my reason…The simplest way to say it would be that I am indebted to one that you hold dear, who would grieve bitterly for your death."

"But you're not going to say who, are you?"

"Work your brain for a guess. It goes against the spirit of the war for me to be giving out names. I'll save my story for when we'll meet again."

"As an enemy or as a friend…?" Shirou asked, at that point had given on gleaning the man's identity. The bizarre encounter had left him with even more questions than he'd started with.

"When the opportunity is right, I may stand beside you or against you," the magus replied, apparently not taking offense to the question. "There are too many possibilities for this old mage to account for entirely. I had tried my hand at prophecies and soothsaying once. Only failure and disappointment seems to be the result."

"I see…"

"However, if you would like, I can start with a more trivial matter. Ah, yes, perhaps we shall start with matters of the heart. Something to captivate those in their youth…" The magus tried to stroke his beard, but once again to no avail. "Hmm, hmm, my poor boy, I am sad to announce that your fortune in the matter of the heart is as bad as it can be."

Shirou smiled wryly. Becoming a Heroic Spirit was a trial that no other lovers would have to pass just to see one another again. "At any rate, let's stop sidetracking. Let me say this while we're still not enemies…Thank you for saving my life."

"Do not think much of it. This old magus had been fairly entertained by a meaningless talk with you. Alas I'm afraid he will have to let you return. Now go back quickly. Your enemy awaits." The magus raised his staff with a bony right arm. Once then twice, he knocked the trunk of his tree.

Darkness flooded Shirou's eyes upon the third knock. The ground disappeared, and he tumbled down the height.

Then the dream ended.

Shirou's eyelids fluttered open, the sound of the hollowed tree trunk still ringing in his ears. A dimly lit hallway came into view. Shirou ran two fingers across his neck. Only the supple sensation of warm flesh pushed against his fingers. Murky red liquid coated them, but the pain was gone.

"Trace on."

The spell gave him the familiar sensation of prana enveloping his torso. His flesh became a sheet of steel, molten and tempered by the blaze inside.

He heard a deep growl further down the corridor, followed by rapidly approaching footsteps. His enemy's perception was acute. The wolf had become alerted just from his small movements, but Shirou was calm as he rose to his feet. Not too keen on having his throat torn out a second time, Shirou reflexively covered his neck with one arm.

But the wolf was already figuring out a way through his defense, shifting its attack path downward. It aimed to utilize same maneuver, knocking Shirou down with a charge and tearing his wind pipe at its leisure.

Ducking its head low, the wolf rushed for the final spurt of speed before diving in. Instead, the wolf was rendered dazed by the impact. It had struck not the man but a pillar of stone.

"Too bad," Shirou gritted his teeth, enduring the brunt of the charge. "This isn't going to be like the last time."

As the wolf doddered back from the impact, Shirou rushed forth and drove his right fist down towards the base of its neck. His sword was lost somewhere in the blackness, and the dashing wolf left him no time to make a new weapon. Bare-handed melee was the only way to go.

The move was reckless, but it wasn't quite as foolish as it looked. The effects of repeated strengthening accumulated over the years made his fists an effective contingency weapon to create an opening before delivering the death blow.

"Gah…!"

Shirou had been forced to take down a grail beast with bare hands before, but the wolf was much faster. Its bushy tail flicked up and slapped his face with a loud thwack. The attack was a mere distraction, but it gave the wolf the opportunity to retreat a few steps, realizing that its foe did not warrant the same carelessness as before.

Now with a simple blade in hand, Shirou prepared short defensive swings, to cut short any attempt to advance into biting range. But the wolf had also turned defensive. Instead of the headlong charge, it now maintained distance, swiping and snapping every time Shirou attempted to close in.

Man and beast traded small attacks. After seeing their reckless charges being rendered ineffective, neither were rushing to end the fight. Instead, they were stalling until one would make a mistake in their movement; a mistake that could be exploited to a lethal end.

It was the wolf who first saw one such opportunity, after Shirou had advanced for a vertical slash.

The wolf simply didn't dodge as the gleaming steel approached. There was no need to. Whether by miscalculation or carelessness, the arc Shirou had drawn with his blade came up too short.

A critical mistake to make in the heat of a battle.

The wolf lowered its hind leg, ready to pounce on Shirou once his blade passed. It was determined to tear his corpse into pieces; no more miraculous revival of the magus that it had once thought to be an easy prey.

But Shirou only showed a confident grin.

"I got you now! Trace on!"

It was supposed to be a rush of wind that would pass by; instead the wolf felt the sharpness of steel cutting through its flesh. Muscles and bones were cleaved cleanly through with a single sword stroke.

Closely following the pain was confusion. Through its experience, the wolf knew it couldn't have misread the distance. Yet, the damage was real.

Using whatever strength was left in three legs, the wolf disengaged and retreated. The loss of front leg reduced its howl to a whimper. In the place of blood, luminescent smoke drifted from the open wound and left the damaged appendage deflated.

Shirou let out a breath of relief. He had made a dangerous gamble, knowing that the time limit on strengthening would make him lose a battle of attrition. His sword was intentionally made slightly shorter than the standard, so that a few extra centimeters of undecorated steel could be forged and added to the tip in the middle of the swing.

Part of the attention diverted to forge the blade did cause his attack to be slightly off the mark. He had aimed to cleave the wolf's skull in two, but the damage inflicted was still enough to seal the outcome of this fight.

Having lost the use of a front leg, the wolf staggered and desperately balanced itself up like a new-born pup. The wolf's real advantage over the strengthened Shirou was speed. With that taken off the table, its chance at victory had become practically non-existent.

The same train of thought must have occurred to wolf as both hind legs propelled it across the corridor, zigzagging through the clutter of items. Without slowing down, it crashed through the glass door into the garden and in one swift maneuver used the stone lantern as a base to leap over the wall.

_"Stay put, Emiya-kun. What did I tell you about rushing ahead toward suicide?"_ Rin's warning crossed Shirou mind for a second and was swatted away just as quick.

Shirou's hunter instinct kicked in. The more wary part of his brain ordered him to stand down, but the more idealistic part egged him on. He had to hunt the beast down to the bitter end, before it could hurt someone else.

Nothing had changed after three years. It was still the ideal that won his internal struggle.

Emiya Shirou, a Heroic Spirit in the making, wouldn't just stand down and lick his wounds while his enemy escaped.

_Trace on!_

Before he himself knew it, Shirou had already vaulted over the wall and was in hot pursuit. With prana channeled into his entire lower body, a single leap generated enough lift for him to cross over the wall of the Emiya Residence. The wolf was gone by the time that he emerged into the adjacent street, but the drifting luminous smoke still left a clue as to its path of escape. Shirou had to strengthen his vision to locate the dispersing trail of smoke which was becoming too faint to be seen by naked eyes.

He had to hurry while the path was still fresh. The wolf's physical structure meant that it was made to be much faster than him on all fours. With only three functioning, Shirou expected the hunt to end quickly.

Yet, he came to the sudden realization that the wolf was no stranger to being pursued. It had chosen a route that he would have difficulty crossing, from balancing on a narrow ledge on the side of the building to ducking through a small hole under the wall of a construction site.

_Damn sneaky bastard…_

With his limited arsenal of magic, Shirou had to make do with improvisation. He climbed over the obstacles he could, took detours when he couldn't, and even had to ram down the rickety wall of an old house that the wolf had crawled under.

Without a canine's natural agility, tracking the wolf through the terrain tired Shirou out much faster than his game. The wolf was more persistent than he had given it credit for. Even with a bone-deep injury, there wasn't even one cluster of smoke to reveal that it had fallen over.

Shirou's throat grew parched, and his leg muscles started to feel the strain from running. Despite the cold, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead and gathered into sheets across his back.

The wolf's path led westward from Fuyuki to an even more sparsely populated that led to the Ryuudoji temple. As the number of buildings and structures thinned down, Shirou seized the opportunity, when there were fewer obstacles to spur his legs, no longer caring about hiding from the public.

If he wanted to have any hope of catching the wolf, he had to do so upon this stretch of flat ground. If the wolf happened to reach the forest, he realized he wouldn't be able to muster the strength to run through another obstacle course of trees and logs.

The smoke grew slightly thicker, enough to be seen with normal vision. The outskirts of the forest came into his view, but so did the wolf's glowing form.

The wolf was making a sudden turn into the house nearest to the forest. As Shirou remembered, it had been long abandoned after the strings of mysterious incidents had broken out in Fuyuki, the perfect place for a hideout.

The thought of bringing his hunt to completion refilled Shirou's vigor. He just needed to beat it across this final stretch of distance. Shirou made the same turn into the barren plot of land, but came to a sudden stop.

The reason why the wolf had run dawned upon him.

It wasn't simply retreating, and the obstacle course wasn't meant to shake him off as much as it was to laden him with fatigue.

The wolf was luring him into a trap.

"Damn it…Why is it that you're always right in the end, Tohsaka?" Shirou cursed, after having trudged halfway across the field of overgrown grass.

Too caught up with the thought of finishing off his injured game to be more wary of danger, he had forgotten a simple fact:

Wolves are pack animals.

Like executioners, two of its pack mates stared him down from the second-story balcony of a desertedhouse. They were of broader chest and were more robustly built than the one he had just fought, clearly a more powerful specimen. Manes of grey extended from behind their scalps up to half the length of their sleek torsos.

Shirou tried to conceal his heavy breathing, but was less than successful. With his earlier self-assurance eroded, the first object that Shirou had chosen to materialize was not a blade but a metal kite shield.

The wolves grew smug by Shirou's switch to the defensive. They could sense his weakened state.

Shirou kept his eyes trained on their on their movements as he contemplated retreat, but felt a pang of sharp pain shoot from his left thigh after a single step backward.

"Agh!"

A backward glance showed a wolf sinking its fangs into him from behind, having concealed itself in an overgrown bush. Though the strengthening spell prevented his leg from being torn off outright, the strength of its jaws still caused Shirou to collapse backwards, exposing all the weak spots in his human anatomy to the reach of their jaws.

Expecting the current development, the two remaining wolves pounced on his fallen form in perfect synchronization.

"I won't let you!"

Shirou positioned the shield across his upper body and delivered a kick to a wolf that aimed for his groin. The shield's rim evenly matched another wolf's fangs. The wolf felt unnaturally light, almost weightless, but the strength behind its jaw was real as it stepped over his chest and pinned him down.

Their respective strengths closely matched, but gravity and fatigue put him at a disadvantage. His arms were the pillars that supported the shield, but they were crumbling as the wolf kept pushing him back.

With no other options, Shirou eased the strength in his arms and focused on concentrating his prana. It was as good an opportunity as any to being relying on his trump card.

_Trace on-!_

But his spell-casting was interrupted by a war cry from another direction, and the single stroke of a sword broke the deadlock between him and one of the alpha wolves.

"Hah!"

He couldn't see the path of the approaching blade, but the wolf that stood over him burst into a tuft of smoke. All that remained of it was the scent of ashes and incense.

A woman in a fluttering blue dress dashed forth as if riding on the wind, not satisfied with just killing one. Her agility was more than a match for the beast. Each stroke of her sword sent them scampering away, and the ones that weren't fast enough were returned to dust.

Her elegant swordplay in moonlight dispersed the entire flock.

Shirou had forgotten to return to his feet through the spectacle and only uttered a single word as she landed before him.

"Saber…"

Shirou rose to his feet and trudged heavily. He reached forward to ensure that the woman before him wasn't crafted out of his own imagination, but both his useless arms weighted down like lead. Severely strained, they wouldn't budge upon his simple command.

Now that the effects of adrenaline and strengthening had receded, a crippling exhaustion took over. Saber was still a few steps away when Shirou became completely burnt out, unable to even take another step.

Still, his other senses told him that she was real.

Those piercing emerald eyes…

The braided hair that smelled of the meadow…

Though seven years had passed, Shirou was confident that he would be able to recognize this elegant knight without fail.

It was her.

The love of his life.

Though he only felt ecstasy, Shirou lost the strength to show it. His knees buckled, but two hands came to his support before he collapsed onto the ground.

Saber had approached and gathered him in her arms. Her gauntleted hands gently propped up his body. She gave him an approving stare and whispered. "Rest easy, magus…You've done well."

Shirou tried to squeeze out words to commemorate their reunion, but only managed incoherent mumbles. Word flowed in his head, but he lacked the strength to say them aloud.

_I'm here…_

_It's good to see you again..._

_Stay with me…_

Emiya Shirou succumbed to the crippling wave of weariness, falling peacefully asleep. He had imagined their reunion to be more sentimental, more loving, but for the time being just falling asleep in her embrace was good enough.

_Saber…Please…Stay…_

He was content with just this one single moment.

A moment that allowed him to relive the happy days he left in the past.

**Fuyuki Church **

Fatigue made Shirou sleep like a rock through the whole day. The night and the morning passed like a moment spent in darkness. There was no dream he could remember, just her voice echoing repeatedly until the time of his awakening.

"Saber!"

The shadow of a person above him caused to Shirou to spring up with hope, but disappointment followed as his bleary eyes made out locks of white hair.

"Good afternoon Emiya Shirou, who I had mistakenly thought to be a homeless man. Is anything broken?" Caren asked after observing his ragged appearance.

"Don't think so…But I'm sore all over," Shirou croaked. He collapsed back onto the pew, just realizing how dry his throat had been.

Shirou's vision had grown wavy after leaping up from hard wood pew. His head thumped wildly inside, worse than any of the rare hangovers he'd had after stopping by at the 'Copenhagen' Bar during one of the drinking nights.

"How…Why am I here?"

"That is a very good question and I'm hoping that you can provide me the answer." Caren quietly occupied the pew behind him.

"Before that…was there anyone else when you found me?" Shirou asked hesitantly. Part of him was dying for an answer. Another was scared to know.

Caren cocked her head to the side and pondered. "Was there supposed to be one? If you were dropped off by someone, then he had already left by the time that I found you."

"Well, it's supposed to be a she."

"Then I saw neither a 'he' nor a 'she,' unless this person you're talking about is supposed to be invisible." Caren leaned over the backrest and propped her chin on one hand. "Still, I think that a more important topic would be what happened after you returned last night."

"That might take a while to explain…" Shirou let out a sigh as he thought back to the tumult of last night's event.

"Then will you take some hot tea, while you're explaining?" Caren offered.

"Yeah…thanks."

"Good, the kettle is already on the stove. Go on; start explaining your stupidity and how it almost killed you after repeated warnings."

"Ugh…"

Although Caren wasn't quite as aggressive as Rin, with her neutral tone of voice, her words were still intended to hurt. Shirou realized that she wouldn't let him off the hook without a good enough explanation.

Caren maintained a blank expression throughout Shirou's story, only to show a shake of her head as he finished. "…And just right after I warned you."

"Well, yeah, not like I would know that other Masters had already summoned their Servants."

"Not actually summoned per se…" Caren shook her head, her brows knitted together in displeasure. "As I was trying to explain the situation-"

The kettle made a whistling sound that broke the flow of their conversation.

"Excuse me for a moment."

"Please."

Caren made a pitter patter sound with her slippers to rush into the living quarters behind the altar, giving Shirou time to ponder the last night's incidents. Only a single thought occupied his brain. The last night scene replayed over and over to temper the disappointment.

Saber.

She had saved him once again.

It seemed unreal, even impossible, but he knew that it wasn't just a dream. The feel of her embrace still remained vivid.

"Saber…Why didn't you stay…?"

Shirou clutched his head, churning out possibilities. He gave free rein to his imagination, but there weren't too many scenarios that he found credible, aside from irrational fears and worries.

She couldn't have forgotten about him during the interval that they had parted. Two short years would only be the blink of an eye for Heroic Spirits.

_What would she think at a time like this…?_

It seemed more plausible to assume Saber would have deemed it safer for him not to get involved in the war at all. They did fight together against Gilgamesh and in Ryuudoji, side by side, but the situation was desperate then.

Shirou dreaded the notion that she would consider him the same defenseless boy, but she was right. Seven years was long enough for him to accumulate confidence but was far from sufficient to train a man to fight all the phantasmal beings on equal ground.

After being saved twice, last night had dealt a hard blow to his optimism.

_Damn it…Am I still that weak in the end?_

_Of course, I am, who am I trying to fool? _Shirou snorted in reply to himself. He would have frozen if she didn't have the mercy to be dropping him off at church. His casual attire of a jean and T-shirt offered little protection against the weather.

It wasn't until Caren returned with two steaming mugs that Shirou realized how much time had passed while occupied with his frustration.

"My apology, I was answering a phone call."

"That's alright and thanks."Shirou gratefully received one of the mugs and took a small sip. It had been hours since he had last drank something. He wasn't familiar with the different variants of English tea, but Caren seemed to have chosen a good one. The amber colored liquid had a unique calming fragrance.

"You always seem to enjoy putting yourself in danger," Caren began. "As Tohsaka Rin said, it's not easy to be looking after you."

"I'm already a grown man, you know? I can handle myself, but a man can't just become a hero without some risk along the way." Shirou's frown deepened as he protested. He didn't just spend all those days training his combat skills and hunting down the grail beasts just to give up the chance to realize his dream. "This is a dream I'm not going to give up…no matter what."

Caren nodded as she heard his reasoning. Choosing not to directly confront Shirou about his beliefs, she instead looked up to the altar and recited. " 'When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.' Have you heard this saying before…? "

"I'm not really the type to go to church..."

"That's a passage in Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. It is well suited to your situation, I believe. A man is someone who puts the ways and the dreams of childhood behind him."

"Does he have to? Even a man need a dream to live," Shirou countered, starting to feel a general dislike about the direction their conversation was heading. His dreams were far-fetched, but far-fetched wouldn't always denote impossible.

"I'm not saying that you must, but it's just something to consider." Caren took a small sip from her mug. Her empty gaze trailed up the altar and the hollowed distance between them to the ceiling. "A dream is dream nothing more. One day, as we grow up, we'll have to find our own peace by coming to compromise with the real world."

"More Bible verses?"

"No, just a lesson I had from my own life. It's good to have a dream but there are limits. Humans are not meant to fight Heroic Spirits. That's just not the way that nature is supposed to work," Caren concluded as she took the empty mug from Shirou.

"At any rate, thanks for the tea," Shirou's distaste for Caren's quips and chiding continued to grow gradually. "I should be heading back before Tohsaka…"

"Actually," Caren interrupted, her eyes glued to the large clock that hung over the entrance. "It is in your best interest to just wait here, unless you truly have a death wish."

"Sorry?"

It was then that Shirou's eyes caught something strange. Traveling along the aisle was a gleaming puddle that pulsated, and was making its way toward him ever so slowly. Shirou squinted. His eyes didn't seem to be making a mistake.

The puddle seemed…sentient?

"Shit!"

The puddle struck with a sudden swiftness, impossible for a viscous body of liquid to possess. It extended into tendrils that stuck with a glue-like viscosity. Shirou's lower half was covered in an instant.

"Trace on!"

Not giving up so easily, Shirou drove a spear ubto the ground like a vaulting pole. The takeoff was successful, but the rest of the maneuver was not. The liquid turned into a solid-like resilience just as his feet left the ground, becoming like a pair of steel cuffs that left him hanging upside down.

"Target captured," came a mechanical voice from the viscous puddle. For a moment, Shirou thought he saw it molding into the shape of a woman.

A golem, he realized as it forcibly dragged him toward a pair of magi who had just entered the church. The man was scowling and the woman simply watched him with a deadpan expression.

"Good work and you…" The man turned his gaze downward, apparently displeased. "What in the bloody hell are you doing around here? Must all of you Japanese magi loiter about everything?"

"I beg to differ. I thought I already told you that this guy doesn't have the slightest instinct of self-preservation. It'll be good if you don't generalize," the woman beside him protested.

"Oh, good afternoon." Caren soon recognized the identity of the two newcomers, while Shirou was still busy fighting off the golem. "You're earlier than scheduled, Tohsaka Rin and Lord El-Melloi."

"It's the second…El-Melloi the second," the long-hair man grumbled, not too keen on being mistakenly addressed as his long deceased and much hated master.

"Yeah, we sure arrived early…in no small thanks to this guy here," The woman stepped into the church and marched toward Shirou, shaking her head in frustration.

Shirou let out a breath of relief as soon as he recognized her face. "Tohsaka, would you mind explaining this? Why are you of all people hanging me upside down?"

"Actually, I'd rather that you do the explaining, Emiya-kun." Rin walked up to him, smiling sweetly. "What happened to my advice to stay put? I'm quite certain that you already answered affirmatively. Oh, and it would be nice to answer your phone once in a while."

"It's a…well," Shirou reached for the familiar bulge in his jeans.

Fourteen missed calls.

"...Tohsaka-san, I believe that you have a very good reason to be angry…"

"Reasons," Rin corrected. "I was thinking that your dead body had already been dumped in a ditch somewhere, after walking in and seeing your house empty. At least until I called Caren a while ago and she told me of last night's…escapade. Apparently, you are keen on dying before we even get here."

"Well, alright, you've got your reasons to be angry…But I can explain all this." The hairs on the back of Shirou's neck stood up with sudden chills. "You'll understand when I explain."

"Really? What makes you think I'll give you that chance in the first place?"

"…Sorry, ma'am, I'll take that back. Please show mercy. I'll be infinitely grateful if you would only allow me to clarify..."

"Is that so?" Rin advanced a step. "Just don't say things like 'I can't let it kill any innocent people or 'I'm just trying to save everyone.' I think we both already know this routine, don't we?"

Spot on, once again.

Shirou's desperate smile grew a little more strained. If his legs could move, he would probably dash backward to take his stand at the other end of the church.

"Guess I'm right again…" Rin shook her head, her temper quickly deflating like a balloon. Patience was one of the virtues she'd learned in the past years, but his antics were testing her limits. "Just forget it…We don't have a lot of time, and I'm too exasperated to even be angry…Professor, if you would be so kind."

The golem relaxed its grip on Shirou, who proceeded to fall to the ground with a dull thud, and then condensed into a single block of lustrous solid.

"Tch, gotta give it to you and your guess. This bloody codswallop sure knows how get into danger." Lord El-Melloi II grumbled in a begrudging admittance.

"Told you it's a miracle beyond miracles that he's surviving this long," Rin said.

"Hey, hey, don't badmouth people like they aren't even there."

"Oh, feel free to protest if we are wrong, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case."

"Fine…" Shirou reluctantly admitted. He had to shift the conversation away from this sore topic. "Who's he, by the way?"

"Oh, where are my manners. Here, I present you Lord El-Melloi II, the current head of the house of Archibald and a survivor from the 4th Holy Grail War. If that's too much of a mouthful, I suppose you can call him Waver-"

"Not if you don't want to piss me off and you…" Lord El-Melloi II turned his bloodthirsty gaze toward Shirou. "Be grateful. Because of you, I didn't even have the time to visit Akihabara and Nihonbashi. This harpy was dragging me to the train station right after we landed…All because you hadn't answered your phone."

"Akihabara? Nihonbashi?" Shirou blinked twice and studied the man's expression. He just didn't expect to hear those names from the scowling magus. Seeing a man of his manner and post saying the names of the centers of otaku sub-culture was surprising to say the least.

"Professor, let me take the opportunity to remind you that throwing a tantrum and revealing yourself addicted to Japanese video games doesn't do any good to your reputable image." Rin gave the man a condescending smile that only aggravated him further.

"Bah, just drag that bloody idiot out of the church and start the meeting. We'll be wrapping the mission up quick, and I'll be taking my vacation in Japan afterward. This is not up for debate," Lord El-Melloi II finished, huffing out of the church.

"He's got quite a lovely personality, hasn't he?" Snickering at the man's antics, Rin offered Shirou a hand. "Can you stand up, Emiya-kun?"

Just realizing that he had been sitting on the church floor throughout their entire exchange, Shirou took her hand in a hurry.

"That guy is…quite similar to Shinji," Shirou said, after waiting for Lord El-Melloi II to be out of earshot.

"You think so?" Rin commented after thinking back to their recent interactions. "I guess there are resemblances, albeit with him being only about half of a snob and half of a jerk…"

"I pity you Tohsaka. So this is the guy that looks after you at the Clock Tower?"

"He's not all that bad, not when you really start getting to know him."

"A hidden nice side? That's unexpected," Shirou chuckled. The gruff looking man just didn't seem the type.

"Of course not, just that it can be fun to drag him around by the nose when you realize that him being tough guy is just an act," Rin said, followed by evil giggles. "That helpless look on his face is always priceless."

"Yeah, yeah, I've known you long enough to know that you're one evil woman, Tohsaka. I'm not gonna be surprised."

"Glad you can still remember, but, unless you would prefer us to hold a serious meeting on church pews, let us move on, shall we? My house is close by. Let's head there." Rin turned on her heel and walked out of the church at a brisk pace, not in a hurry to catch up to her Clock Tower companion. "Caren, thanks for helping out this idiot."

"You're welcome. If you don't mind, I have to prepare for the evening service." Caren gave them a small bow and headed back inside.

"What the hell are you loitering for?!" a rude interruption came from outside the church.

"Looks like we better be on our way as well." Rin offered a courteous wave goodbye and dragged Shirou away in tow.

"One sec, just one more thing I have to say now…" Shirou said. "I think I saw Saber last night."

"Is that so…"

An indifferent silence followed the pause in Tohsaka Rin's reply. The knowledge that she chose not to reveal to Shirou darkened her expression.

For him, silence would be more merciful, and she needed Shirou to concentrate on the issue at hand.

"We'll talk more about this later," Rin concluded, when Shirou started protesting. A short addendum was left out of her promise.

_When you are ready to know…_


	4. The War and The Servants

**Chapter 3: The War and the Servant**

**Cornwall, England (Five days ago)**

"Five…more minutes…"

Tohsaka Rin wriggled deeper into her sleeping bag, when the first alarm clock began ringing at fifteen minutes before two. The pillow snugly covered her ears against the intruding noise.

"Five-"

Another pillow-side buzzer interrupted her sleep-talking, beating her eardrums senseless with an unholy screech that sent animals within a 50 meters radius scurrying away.

Rin bolted straight out of sleeping bag, clamping down on the device, before the subsequent cold sent her fishing for her overcoat and portable camping lamp. All sleepiness was flushed from her system by the time that Rin had dressed herself up in full winter apparel and managed to light the tent's interior.

Early November wasn't a good time to be camping out, but at least the field wasn't freezing over and the ground was solid enough to pitch a tent. The clear sky was on her side. She hated to think of having to camp out in the muddy bog if it started raining.

The buzzer was a drastic measure, but the timeframe of the summoning ritual was tight and unforgiving. Sleeping over the peak of her magic energy was a mistake she'd be kicking herself over for years to come.

The requirements for the ritual were riddled with uncertainties that forced her to start early. Missing the optimal summoning window meant another twenty-four hours of repeatedly kicking herself in the rear and camping out in the November cold. Leaving a finished magic circle unprotected was an even worse option.

"God…Why did I ever think this would be a good idea…?" Rin mumbled through chattering teeth for at least the seventh time that night.

There _**was**_ a reason why she'd chosen this desolate field over her warm and cozy Hyde Park apartment as the place of summoning.

Saber.

After witnessing her strength in the last war, there wasn't any reason to set her eyes on other Servants.

She told herself that the right was only earned after having worked through conflicting historical accounts and interpretations for weeks on end. She had no catalyst in physical form, but Heroic Spirits were not only bound to this world through their artifacts. Some of their essence often lingered in the place of their death.

Or at least that was what she had come to believe.

Discounting the shady tours leading naïve tourists to random fields and brooks, finding the actual site of the Battle of Camlamn had been nothing short of a feat.

She initially had her doubts, but all doubt had flown away once she'd set foot on this dirt mound.

The landscape was alive. Curious eyes peeked through the clefts in the boulders and the partings between bushes. More peered across the river that ran further down the slope, hidden in the reeds on either side.

Remnants of the past days, bound to their final resting place.

Rin kept her eyes focused on the ritual ground. Looking around wouldn't do any good other than freaking her out. These onlookers could not be seen, not with her eyes at the very least.

Rin stepped into the remains of a small cairn. The formation of stone had long since been swept by time, but the old site of power left enough spoil to be claimed. Celtic magecraft was not her usual style, but the old energy pathway functioned nicely after she had drawn her own, connecting the rim of her magic circle the stone surface.

'_Good as my own now. Sorry about that, old druid-guys…'_ Rin's thought gave her a small grin.

She wouldn't actually need all this energy, but it didn't hurt to go for overkill. The actual process of summoning was handled by the Grail. The magus only provided the pathway for the summoning.

"Not like that idiot would be able to summon a Heroic Spirit like her anyway," Rin mumbled in self-condolence, taking a guilty pleasure about beating Shirou to the punch.

Five minutes before two.

It was time to begin.

"Bare silver and iron. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contract…"

A torrent of incantations flowed like a stream, solemn and steady. Heat overflowed from within and seared into her left arm.

A familiar sensation.

"…Emerge from the ring of control, the guardian of balance!"

The circle came alive as the final word parted from her lips.

Perfect.

A perfect setup for the strongest Servant.

"It would be an honor to meet you again, King Arthur…" Rin mumbled.

Tohsaka Rin's smug grin was well-deserved, but it was short-lived. An hour later as she raced back to London in a rented Ford Fiesta, the thought of a certain blond-woman behind the wheel emcumered her with a weird sense of disappointment.

Once again, a bigger mess on her big occasion.

In her defense, this time was hardly her fault. The unforeseen hiccup was not the result of a faulty summoning ritual or a suboptimal time window. She had both pinned down to the number. If anything, it might have had to do with Saber's unique circumstances as a Servant.

The urgent need to interrogate Shirou crossed her mind, but was dismissed. Rin took another long look at the blond woman, oblivious to the gnawing worry.

_Goodness…After all your impossible streaks of luck, you can be one hell of an unlucky bastard, Emiya-kun. I almost feel sorry for you. _

Tohsaka Rin was a softie at heart and a sucker for sappy happy endings (or as she would put it herself she was allergic to tragedy). Out of sheer goodwill, she had booked one ticket to Japan for the next morning. She had thought that a surprise reunion would have a made a wonderful gift to both of her dear friends.

Not anymore.

Now, it would be kinder to keep the two separated.

For the sake of Saber and Shirou both.

She intended to keep the two apart for as long as possible, but that _possible_ could mean an awfully short time with the frequency in which Shirou kept getting himself into mortal danger. Fuyuki was a dangerous place for a magus, even more so when the Grail started acting up.

Rin heaved a sigh. It would require no less than a Servant to keep Shirou safe until her arrival.

Only a few more days of sorting out all the paperwork.

"By the way, Saber…Do your best to not let him see you."

"…As you wish," came a solemn reply, then the rest of ride proceeded in silence.

**Tohsaka Mansion, Fuyuki City (Present Time)**

Shirou had been to the Tohsaka's house before, but only loitered around the outskirts. There had always been a certain ominous air around the house that prevented him from just entering on a whim, and he was fairly confident that this feeling was more than just a hunch. There was little reason to doubt that a careful magus like Tohsaka Rin wouldn't have her estate strewn with booby traps.

The European manor stood proud amongst the many in this part of the city that resisted the flow of modernity. While its owner disappeared to the Clock Tower, the manor remained a hazard to both invading magi and careless burglars alike.

Tohsaka's long period of absence had contributed to signs of wear and tear that even the professional team of cleaners hired in a couple of days ago could not remove completely. In the dining room, a musty smell lingered in the carpet, not exactly foul but foreign and distracting.

"Take it easy and make yourself at home. Don't break anything that looks valuable and do stay away from the curtains. Replacing them would be brutal for my monthly budget. Oh, if you want tea, help yourself. I've only got mine."

Sipping her afternoon tea, Rin observed Lord El-Melloi II's stiff posture, trained through numerous meetings that he had survived from. When seated beside Shirou, he provided a contrast for the younger magus' darting inquisitive glances. Rin withheld a giggle after realizing that the two made for a dashing comparison.

"Not a single game console…" Lord El-Melloi II mumbled in disappointment. "You really are the worst Japs I've ever met."

"Thank you for your piece of mind, professor, but not all Japanese happens to be a closet otaku like you are," Rin said from the seat at the head of the table.

Grumbling something about not appreciating the artistic sense of her home country, Lord El-Melloi II turned toward Shirou and began. "Bah, let's get started. Under the order of Magi Association, you, Emiya Shirou, are to join us in the mission to dismantle and retrieve the artifact known as the Fuyuki Holy Grail for further study. You are to summon a Servant to assist in combat. Now, questions?"

"Yes, and many…What about the war being sixty years apart? Something about letting the Grail recharge? Seven years is just crazy…" Shirou said, sinking a little further into his seat. Something about the Lord El-Melloi II's dismissiveness didn't sit well with him.

"If you would give me a moment…" Rin said, giving the professor a questioning glance. She received a shrug in reply, then turned to Shirou. "Emiya-kun, I don't think you've read the documents I asked you to…I'm hoping you would tell me that I'm wrong."

"Unfortunately, you're not," Shirou confessed after a moment of hesitation.

Rin shook her head and sighed. "Well, as a bare minimum, I know that you do know about the corruption in the Grail at least. We'll start there."

"Let's see. Corruption spread into Fuyuki. Fuyuki became the Grail's platform, spawning all those hell-hounds that I take care of every once in a while. What else am I missing?"

"Everything, aside from technical aspects. This war is going to be different, Emiya-kun. You need to-"

Lord El-Melloi II waved Rin off. "Stop veering off topic. We're not here to give a lecture on the war."

"Geez, I'm working to get there, in case you haven't seen that Mr. Oblivious here had already lost track of everything you said. Don't you know how to exercise a little more patience, Professor Velvet?" Rin countered.

Lord El-Melloi II scrunched up his face into a frown, reluctantly quieting down. The name reminded him of the experiences in his younger years. Most were unpleasant.

"First off, we don't have a concrete reason why the Grail is resuming activities. I guess it's probably due the Grail having leftover prana, since Saber and you didn't make a wish. I suppose the Grail has both of you to thank."

"Should have just shown gratitude by staying out of trouble for a few more decades," Shirou mumbled under his breath.

"Secondly, we're not having a proper Holy Grail War. You can say it's a…" Rin cast a questioning glance at Lord El-Melloi II who seemed to be in no mood to offer help. "...Well, a recovery process from the taint. You see, the grail is a system, and all systems seek to return to their original state, given enough time and opportunity. In a sense, it's a Holy Grail War. Also, in a sense, it's also an entirely new thing now with two factions of Servants fighting the other."

"Doesn't make sense," Shirou interrupted. "Last time I'd checked, I didn't realize there were factions within the grail."

"For the record, that last time of yours was probably during the last war," Rin interrupted flatly, earning a cringe from Shirou. "By the way, everything I've said and will say from now would be available in that dusty sealed envelope in your mailbox. The one that you've never bothered to read and, yes, I checked during that visit to your _empty_ house."

"Got it…I'll read it as soon as I'm home. Come on, Tohsaka, stop being miffed already…" Shirou pleaded in little voice.

"Too bad, I was just starting to get a hang of pushing you around. I was getting rusty after a year," Rin gave an evil giggle, but seemed to have relented.

_Liar…Your forked tongue doesn't need any sharpening…_Shirou thought, but knew better than to blurt out.

"Look, the Throne of Heroes doesn't account for factions. Its purpose is just to be there, storing heroes inside. However-"

"I'm bored. Skip the crap," Lord El-Melloi II waved Rin off. "There's ample ground for division, if you weren't blind to all those blighting serial-killers that are also called Heroic Spirits."

Shirou nodded. That much had been obvious.

"Yes, thank you, professor…" Rin continued. "We know that the evil Heroic Sprits became able to stake their claim on the Grail, after it was tainted during the Third War. Things have changed since Saber blasted the Grail to hell. The taint is weakening, after some of it spilled into the city. The evil ones are being kicked out and they're not awfully happy about it."

"So…We'll be stopping those evil ones. Is that it?"

"You wish," Lord El-Melloi II spoke, having just gotten over his fit of annoyance. "Getting into a free-for-all bloody smackdown with the heroes and the crazies? Two magi and an idiot wouldn't last the first day."

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't try…" Shirou argued. His dislike for the professor was growing.

"That, Emiya-kun, is where the summoning part comes in, in case you weren't listening," Rin said.

"Well, we've got nearly half the number. If all three of us got us a Servant, that'll make three of out seven," Shirou said.

Alliances were strong cards to play, especially during the pre-war phase. A pair would immunize themselves against surprise attack from the other Masters. A trio meant having the luxury of picking off the rest, at least they would notice and form counter-alliance.

Looking at the bright side of things seemed to be the way to go, but Rin and Lord El-Melloi II didn't share Shirou's optimism. Lord El-Melloi II in particular shot him an irritated glare.

"It's nice that you remember that at least, but as I told you a lot of things have changed," Rin elaborated. "You're missing seven Servants for a total of fourteen."

"Fourteen…?" Shirou repeated the number, which didn't seem to make any remote sense. "Okay…So is it my ears or is it my brain that's going crazy?"

"It'll be easier if you take a look at this." Tohsaka's expression darkened as she produced a stack of papers from her suitcase and slid it across the table. "Here, a courtesy of the Church and the Association."

Shirou gingerly picked up the document, almost with a sense of apprehension. Tohsaka's expression told him as much.

Shirou leafed through the thirty odd pages of the report. His sweaty palms crumpled the already messy sheets of paper. He didn't really care. He needed to ascertain one fact before anything else. The appendix section flooded his eyes with a torrent of letters and tables. He gleaned through them all, searching for one relevant piece of information.

Shirou flipped to the last page. His worry grew as he read through the list of new classes of Servants.

_Beast, Tyrant, _and _Lunatic_ left little room to imagine what these entities had in mind when they made the decision to pursue the grail.

Clearly not something akin to eternal peace and global understanding.

"No freakin' way..."

"But I'm afraid it's going to be a yes freakin' way, Emiya-kun. Cliché as it sounds, we do have at hand the onset of a good and evil showdown. The grail's flushing out the taint, and those evil ones aren't happy about losing their stake on the Grail," Rin said.

"And so we'll have a full-house of seven bloody nutcases killing a hell load of people and raising hell all over. Hard to imagine otherwise," Lord El-Melloi II added with a snort. "They win, they get to stay. Not that it matters; guess whose job it is to be cleaning up this whole mess?"

"Okay, I get that Fuyuki's in crappy shape, but I mean…we still have the other seven to even things out…right?"

"Hah, waiting for a hero to come and save the day? You'll be disappointed." With his jest, Lord El-Melloi II apparently didn't share Shirou's optimism. "The seven 'greatest' heroes the world has ever seen will come here to take care of those 'bad guys.' Only a blithering idiot think they'll let the city get away scot-free."

"Not scot-free, but they could help!" Shirou shot a fiery retort. "What's with you looking down on other people? You're equally stupid, if you just turn away from these opportunities."

"Hah? What the fuck did you say?"

"Okay, that's it! Stop!" The rising tension forced Rin to intervene, springing up from her seat. "Professor, lighten up on the insults. We're not trying to start a fight. Emiya-kun, you too, calm down."

Shirou and Lord El-Melloi II turned toward Rin, then back to one another. Neither wanted to risk angering Tohsaka Rin more than they already had. Exchanging one final glare, both returned to their seats, making a point of averting their eyes from the other.

"Geez, this is like taking care of two school children," Rin mumbled and wearily sank into her seat. "Emiya-kun, don't misunderstand. There are two factions, but the whole wish-granting thing is limited. Expect in-fighting. Also, I didn't see all that many selfless heroic people in the last war. I don't think professor did either. Heroes entered the war to get that one wish, not to be all heroic…unlike you, of course."

"Whatever you say, Tohsaka. Not that wishing on the blasted thing will do any good," Shirou grumbled in reply. Rin's statement was true, but truth was a hard pill for him to swallow.

"Considering that all three of us do know the Grail's true nature beforehand, I don't suppose we need to worry if one of us happens to be the winner." Rin alternated glances at both Shirou and Lord El-Melloi II. The topic of the Grail sent a frown to both their faces.

Good.

That was the reaction she was looking. All three of them had ample share of hatred toward the Grail to eliminate the worry over broken alliance in the end.

"That said, a bunch of us are the wankers that neither side want to see. Both the Servants and the Grail won't try to be fucking chummy with us, if they learn of the funny stuff we're trying on their Grail," Lord El-Melloi II added to a particularly nasty implication. "If they aren't gonna hunt us down in the beginning, they will by the end."

"That is unfortunately true," Rin nodded in agreement. "Still, the Association just doesn't have more people with similar prerequisites, so the only Masters will be the three of us."

"Ummm, so…you said only three of us…?" Shirou asked meekly. Lord El-Melloi II furious looks and Rin's weary sigh was making him regret his lack of diligence.

"Open your ears for another lecture then…" For the third time, Rin was forced to trail off. "To begin, I'm hoping that you can remember the fundamentals of why there is need for the Master in the first place?"

"O-Of course, something about an energy source…then something about maintaining the Servant's form in the real world and, yeah, something along that line." Shirou couldn't bring himself to forget this piece of information, after the inconvenience it had caused Saber during the last war. Through all the hassles and the intimacy of implanting and transferring his magic circuit onto her, there was no way he could forget.

"Human batteries, simply put," Lord El-Melloi II concluded.

"That's why they are integral part of the war. They are an anchor of sorts that keep the Servants in the real world," Rin continued. "Again, things have changed. With Fuyuki leylines operating like an extension of the Grail, there would be like…recharging stations over the hubs of these leylines. That pretty much leaves us, Masters, unnecessary liabilities."

"Doesn't sound nice..." Shirou commented.

"It isn't. Anyway, use this map for reference." Rin retrieved and unfurled a laminated printout from her folder, but gave no time for Shirou to study the scrawlings on the page. That could be for later. "We marked down some of the potential hubs in this case. Remember them well, Emiya-kun. To put in words you can understand, these are strategic points."

Shirou did scan through with a couple of glances. There were the usual Ryudou Temple and the ruin of the Einzbern manor deep in the forest, and a few new ones such in Shinto part of the city. That was all the information he could make for the time being.

"That's enough bloody explanation. Bring up the agenda," Lord El-Melloi tried to cut Rin off, albeit not successfully.

"To conclude, the Grail won't be searching for new Masters, but the people who survived the old wars can exploit this summoning period to validate our rights over a Servant. Basically, we'll be forcing our way in-"

"The agenda. Now," Lord El-Melloi II repeated, his patience running out.

"Fine, fine, at your insistence." Rin rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Listen well, Emiya-kun, our order is to 'simply' dismantle the Grail, direct from those people who have their heads so high up in the clouds that the word simple didn't mean a thing to them. First thing on the to-do list, we'll be going toe to toe with Berserker. All three of us. We'll track him and eliminate him from the war ASAP."

"Woah, woah, we're going for toughest one first? Doesn't sound like much of a plan here."

"I guess more explanation would necessary...?" Rin cast a glance toward Lord El-Melloi II, who was grumbling incoherent curses in reply. "I'll take that as a no. In which case, do think, Emiya-kun, or at least attempt to. Exercise that grey matter you've been neglecting once in a while."

Shirou's frown deepened. He wasn't exactly making a conscious effort to leave his brain dusty and unused. It just couldn't be helped that he wasn't a genius by birth like Tohsaka Rin, the master of all the five elements. But it didn't take a genius to figure out their concerns. The same question soon crossed his mind.

"…Okay, so who's going to control Berserker?"

"Exactly, so now you know the gravity of the situation," Rin answered. "Other Servants might be able to contain themselves without a Master, but it's a different story for Berserker."

There wasn't even a real need to ask. Without a Master, the implications of setting that monster loose in the city full of people were already disturbing enough on its own.

"With other Servants being a car, Berserker's a fucking tank, stronger, tough as all bloody hell, but also guzzles more energy and runs out of juice before the other lots," Lord El-Melloi elaborated. "Without a Master, who can say the bastard won't be gulping down human souls?"

"We still do have a possible shortcut to gamble on, supposedly that one of us actually summons a Berserker. Poof. Problem's gone," Rin went to, but her expression made it clear that she wouldn't place too much hope on it.

"We have three people. What if none of us summon him?"

"…Hope one of us will. You won't like the contingency plan." Rin's defeated sigh was anything but reassuring. "And…That's it on the agenda."

"Great. That's it. Done. Meeting's over." Lord El-Melloi II sprang up from his seat immediately after Rin exhausted what she had to say. "I have to prepare my ritual. Both of you children play nice."

Without a single glance at Rin and Shirou, he promptly left the room, slamming the door as he went.

Rin shook her head in disapproval of the professor's lack of manners, a vice that he had no intention of overcoming. With a sigh, she turned to Shirou. "Goodness, Emiya-kun, I thought I'd already gotten used to giving lectures, but you're tiring me out…This has just become more of a classroom than a strategy meeting."

Her teaching experience at the Clock Tower didn't help much with Shirou. Most of her students had been willing to learn, at least, the theoretical side of magecraft.

"Yeah…great lecture, by the way," Shirou said with unconcealed dishonesty.

"Anything for my favorite apprentice…" Rin giggled. Out of Lord El-Melloi II's presence, her serious became more relaxed. "Emiya-kun, I was about to ask if you wouldn't want to be a part of this war seeing as how Saber is somewhere out there, but I won't. We don't have that kind of luxury. Any help I can get counts."

"You don't need to. I don't have any intention of backing away in the first place," Shirou replied.

"I thought as much but do try to act smarter than the last time though, now that Saber isn't there to watch your back." Rin nodded, finally backing off Shirou's case. "You best be on your way, Emiya-kun. Rest well and be prepared for the summoning. Get a strong one, if you can."

"What about you, Tohsaka? Waiting a few more days to procrastinate on the important stuff like the usual?"

Shirou expected a grin and a return quip, but what he received was a solemn silence. Tohsaka spent a moment gazing at the remaining amber liquid in her porcelain cup before replying. "Not this time…I was done with my summoning a few days ago."

"You don't look awfully happy about it," Shirou observed.

"Told you I have a tendency to mess up my big moments. Either way, my Servant's out on patrol." Rin took the final sip and restrained her urge to say more. Breaking the news to Shirou was not the easiest thing to do, given the circumstances. "You know that you won't be getting Saber now that she's out there."

"I know, but I'll run into her sooner or later if Saber's a part of this. Guess I'll be lucky that she shows up at all-"

"Even if you have to go against her?" Rin narrowed her eyes, studying Shirou's expression as his grin fell. Her simple question came with an exceedingly heavy implication. "Remember, Emiya-kun, everyone who decided to fight has their own wish to be granted. We are fighting so that no one will get a wish. A dismantled Holy Grail isn't good for granting any wishes, including hers."

A cold realization seeped in, tightening Shirou's lips into a thin determined line. "Saber…wouldn't on rely on something like that. She knows what the Grail is like."

"Who knows...? Things may have changed. Just something to keep in mind."

Silence ensued for five uneasy minutes until Shirou decided he had enough and wobbled out of the dining room, his expression a little more hollowed. He exited the mansion and recoiled as the outside blasted him with the full force of winter.

The tips of his fingers were shaking, and it wasn't just from the cold.

* * *

**Status**** Page**

Servant Roster, Compiled and recorded by Caren Hortensia, the minister of Fuyuki Church, the supervisor of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War.

**Lunatic**: The Lunatics are unrepentant deviants. Driven solely by distorted mentalities, they seldom adopt any higher purpose than the personal urge to kill and inflict suffering upon those weaker than they.

Class Skills: Mental Pollution, Presence Concealment

**Maleficar**: The Maleficars leave trails of atrocities along their quest to connect with the mystical realm. Their intention varies: some strive for power, some strive for knowledge, but all through misguided means.

Class Skills: Witchcraft, Territory Creation

**Scourge**: The Scourges are the enemies of all living humans. Regardless of intention and purpose, so many lives fell by their hand that even the world rejected their existence.

Class Skills: Bane of Humanity

**Beast**: The Beasts are distinguished creatures of legend that have entered annals of history through rampage or benevolence. Since their existence is in itself an aberration to the requirements of a Heroic Spirit, even the Servants of neutral or good standing that belong to class 'Beast' would have faced rejection from the original Grail.

Class Skills: Monstrous Strength

**Tyrant**: Instead of virtue and glory, the Tyrants choose to enforce their legitimacy through force of arms. They are the most adept in wielding instruments of terror to cow the mass and manipulate those under their rule into submission.

Class Skills: Intimidating Presence, Riding

**Fiend**: The Fiends are spirits with connections to the netherworld, either through ritual or lineage. Their strength and skills are demonic in nature and, thus, are aberrations from the summoning scheme within the Throne of Heroes.

Class Skills: Demonic Arts

**Apostate**: The Apostates are heroes who have betrayed their codes of virtue, rejecting a life bound by rules and confined by morality. Driven by desire and spite, their rises to fame were bloody and often through dishonest means.

Class Skills: Counter Hero

* * *

**A/N**: I'm considering the option of making a separate page for all the technical stuffs in this story (Class explanation, Servants' profile, etc) once they start getting out of hand, but for the time being they'll crammed at the end of each chapter. Either way, hope you'd enjoyed the chapter!


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